The present invention relates to airbrushes, and more particularly, to an improved airbrush of relatively small size of the type used by hobbyists and craftsmen for painting relatively large areas.
Airbrushes have long been used by artists, photographers, designers, illustrators and others for fine or delicate work. Over a long period of development, two general types of airbrushes have emerged, those having a single control lever for controlling the entry of air or other aeriform substance and the amount of paint flow, and the other having only a control for entry of air with no provision for adjusting the flow of paint during operation. A variety of both types are commercially available, the former being relatively more expensive and used for fine or delicate work, and the other type, because of the lack of control of paint flow, normally being used for less delicate work, such as the painting of models, touch-up work, and work on relatively large areas not requiring fine control of the paint spray. Indeed, some of the less expensive commercially available airbrushes of the latter type are hardly more than an atomizer in that air is blown over a dip tube to draw the paint from a receptacle and force it through a preset nozzle.
The present invention is directed to airbrushes of the less expensive type, the object being to provide an airbrush that can be sold at a price competitive with airbrushes in the low price category yet have a performance approaching that of more expensive airbrushes. A more specific object of the invention is to provide an airbrush having a minimum number of parts that can be manufactured and assembled at low cost, and which can be readily disassembled for cleaning of the jet and needle.